After snatching a gold medal in the women’s sprint at the track season’s opening campaign in Paris last week, the 31-year-old rider again stood atop the podium with a second consecutive victory in the Olympic discipline.
Previously, Lee, the 2012 London Games bronze medallist in the keirin, only won once in the World Cup series in Cali in 2012 but defying her age, Lee has now claimed two gold medals in a row towards the 2020 Olympic campaign.
Advertisement
The Hong Kong rider was not as impressive as Paris in the sprint qualifying when she managed only a fifth place in the 200-metre flying lap in a time of 10.746 seconds. But again she progressed to the gold medal match after beating major rival Stephanie Morton of Australia in the semi-finals. The Australian sprinter again topped the qualifying in 10.514 seconds but Lee proved too strong for her with two straight wins in the best-of-three tie.
Sarah Lee waves to the crowd after her victory in Milton, Canada. Photo: HKCA
Advertisement
In the final, Lee faced the challenge of up-and-coming German rider Emma Hinze, a former world junior champion in the team sprint and one of the possible replacements of fellow German Kristina Vogel, the multi-Olympic gold medal winner who suffered a major crash in June during training that forced her to retire forever.
